I wrote this column in February, that exciting time of the year when most publicly traded companies submit Form 10-K to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The 10-K is a comprehensive report filed each year to inform potential investors about a firm's financial condition. So, I reviewed the 10-Ks of the largest publicly traded health insurance companies as I was curious about their financial health.1 In 2021, the six largest companies racked up more than $1,102,000,000,000 in revenues, a 23% increase over just two years earlier. These six companies, listed in descending order of 2021 revenue, are CVS Health Corporation, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated, Cigna Corporation, Centene Corporation, Anthem, Inc., and Humana Inc.
Table 1 provides summary revenue and income data for the six largest publicly traded (i.e., for-profit) health insurance companies. The $1.1 trillion revenue figure substantially exceeded the U.S. military budget in 2021 (asamonitor.pub/3hGjPuE), and...
